Blogging Tips

We all get them. It doesn’t matter how well written an article is, how much you’ve researched and gotten the facts down, there’s always someone out there just looking for a someone to attack. I get my fair share. I’m almost sure I will get nasty comments on this post.

Why?

I’ve come to several conclusions.

1. They’re just looking for a back link and traffic any way they can get it; even at the expense of a writer. Unfortunately, there are people in the world who thrive on chaos and stirring up a fuss.

2. They can’t think of anything intelligent to say in response to your material so they have to rip you apart for being a human writer.

3. They have no tactful way of pointing out an error you’ve made. This is either due to limited vocabulary or intelligence.

4. It’s easier to point out someone else’s fault than it is to look at your own.

5. Some people have nothing better to do.

I’ve been chided for missing one word in an entire article. Do I take these seriously? It really depends on who’s doing the chiding and how well written the comment is.

How do you handle these people? Here’s a few of my best tips. If you have others, please feel free to share them.

1. If it’s your own blog, you have several options; you can simply delete the comment, retaliate and defend yourself or ignore it.

I often choose to ignore them. Most readers are smart enough to spot those types of people who are just looking to stir something up. I leave the comments to let the readers judge the intelligence (or lack thereof) for themselves.

Yes, it is possible the readers will click the profile link and give them the traffic they seek.  But it’s short lived traffic.

Defending yourself in these matters can be tricky business. You don’t want to present yourself in a bad light with the readers. Stooping to someone else’s level rarely gets you anywhere. It simply brings you down. If the comment is bad enough to force your hand into action, it’s best to delete the comment and be done with it.

2. If it’s a guest or paid post on another blog, you still have basically the same options as above, except you will need the blog owner to investigate and make the decision if the comment should be deleted.

I also suggest that you not argue with the commenter on someone else’s blog. In my personal experience, I’ve always thanked the commenter for pointing out something I’ve missed. I am human. I’ve also had the same commenter return and keep trying to rile me up; obviously showing my appreciation to them wasn’t enough. In those cases, I ignore any other comments from them.

Simply thank them and move on. If they return, ignore them or bring it to the attention of the blog owner. The majority of other readers and commenters simply ignore these types of people as well.

There are NO perfect writers in the world. I’ve seen mistakes by writers with a degree in journalism and/or majored in English. I’ve seen mistakes by #1 New York Times Best Selling Authors and I’ve seen mistakes by writers who don’t have a degree but are still great writers. I have many writer friends who hold degrees and have an exceptional grasp of grammar and punctuation. They make mistakes as well. We miss things. We are human.

I personally find it quite inspirational to find a mistake by writers I consider better than I am, writers who have more education and are experts in their field. Why? Because I know I don’t have to live up to some invisible standard that doesn’t really exist in the first place. It’s also refreshing to know that, yes, writers are human. We are not robots or pre-programmed computers. We make mistakes. Sometimes we miss those mistakes. If you want to point them out, feel free to do so. We’d appreciate it, especially if you do so out of kindness instead of meanness.

Unfortunately, there are those who’d rather look for and point out a mistake than to take the context of the material and use it. We can’t stop or avoid those people, but we don’t have to acknowledge them either.

Allow me to repeat something extremely important: There are NO perfect writers in the world.